Little Girl
by Demented Insane Spirit
Summary: Jou and Mai’s marriage has slowly been breaking and although they suffer, in the end, it is their young daughter who suffers the most. Drabble.


DIS: I don't generally listen to rap unless it actually has a story to it other than sex, drugs, ect. Although I cry over movies and books all the time, it's very rare for me to cry over songs. Eminem's _Mockingbird, _however, is one of those that can make even a guy cry. Anyway, that's where I was inspired for this.

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_Title: Little girl_

_Rating: K_

_Genre: Drama/Angst_

_Summary: Jou and Mai's marriage has slowly been breaking and although they suffer, in the end, it is their young daughter who suffers the most. Drabble._

_Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh, nor the song that inspired this._

_Notes/Warnings: Drabble; Jou/Mai centered; drama; a slight spin-off from Jou and _

_Mai's broken marriage in _The Notes Of My Heart

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_Little girl_

Shizuka held the bag of groceries to her chest, staring with tearing eyes as she watched her brother's things being tossed on the unkempt lawn. Rena, her niece, stood beside her, staring with a blank expression. Shizuka, holding the tiny girl's hand with her right hand, tightened her hold, bringing her closer to her side. It had been agreed that Rena was to stay over at Shizuka's during the weekend and to be brought back this Sunday afternoon.

Maybe Shizuka should have expected this.

Maybe she should have called before coming, knowing how Jou and Mai's marriage had been going.

There was a scream that sounded like it was from Mai and Rena trembled against Shizuka's side. Letting out a shaky breath, Shizuka turned back to the car and shoved the bag of groceries in the driver's seat and tucked Rena in the backseat, smiling reassuringly. "Stay out here, will you, sweetheart? I promise everything will be okay." She smoothed Rena's hair, so like Jounouchi's, from her face and kissed her on the forehead. Rena nodded and watched as Shizuka shut the door and rushed to the house, slipping once on a shirt before climbing the porch steps and vanishing.

Rena stared at the shirt Shizuka had slipped on, recalling her father wearing it so many times. She heard the shrill voices of Shizuka and Mai dimly beneath her father's roaring, angry voice. She never once looked up at the house to see the contorted faces of her parents in the window in the kitchen; she never once looked from the shirt among the weeds and grass to watch as Jounouchi was hurled from Mai, whose usually beautiful face was marked by a few scratches and streaked with mascara. It was only when the door slammed and her father's belongings were beginning to be gathered that she looked up.

Her aunt was trying to console him, her eyes full of desperate tears. He let out a quick stream of angry words, gesturing furiously towards the house. Rena didn't allow herself to comprehend the words, her blank, brown eyes fixed on her father's handsome face. At a soft word from Shizuka, his expression dropped to that of weariness and sadness, his shoulders slumping. Slowly, he turned his gaze to Rena's and he stared at her. She raised a hand to the window, barely conscious of doing so. She absently stroked the image of his face, feeling her heart constricting.

Dropping the things he had picked up, he jogged to the car and Rena pushed the door open, stumbling out. Before she could fall, Jounouchi swept his four-year-old daughter up into his arms and hugged her close. Rena rested her head on his shoulder, feeling a warm dampness on her neck. She closed her eyes, clutching at him, knowing instinctively that he was crying despite the stillness of his body, despite the silence. Shizuka, a few feet from them, stared at them with a drooping mouth.

"Daddy...?" Rena murmured as he drew away, heaving in a deep breath.

"I'm leaving for awhile, Rena," he rasped. Clearing his throat quickly, he forced a smile of his mouth and stroked her cheek. "My pretty little angel..."

"Daddy..." She dug her fingers in his shirt, but he pulled her away, handing her to Shizuka. "Daddy!!!"

"Come on, Rena. Please, come." Shizuka placed her in the backseat again and shut the door quickly.

"DADDY!" She shrieked, even as the doors locked. She slammed her hands on the window, staring frantically at his depressed, long face. The car pulled out of the doorway and Rena continued to bang on the windows, screaming for him even as they pulled away from the house. She choked on a sob, blinded by the tears as the door turned, leaving the last sight of her father.

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No one told her what happened to her father two nights ago. No one told her why she never saw her, why her mother cried in bed every night. No one told her why her aunt couldn't say her brother's name. The only thing that she had to remember him by was a picture that she had stolen from her mother's photo album. The picture held happier days; it was that of her and her parents, pressed together and smiling. Rena pretended to herself that her father was smiling wherever he was, if only to console herself that he was still alive.

_Finis_

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DIS: I tend to avoid these sort of fictions, but I couldn't help myself. I pride myself on consistency when it comes to my OCs: I generally keep the same ones if they are going to exist. Rena, Mai and Jou's daughter, was only recently invented. As I mentioned, this was inspired by _Mockingbird_. Please leave a review on your way out and tell me how you liked it – or if you liked it at all. Ciao!


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